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"Why are you looking at me like that?" Bruno grunts. "Eat your food before it gets cold."
"I'm not afraid of you anymore," I find myself saying at the same time as I realize it's true. Bruno Bernardi doesn't intimidate me like he used to. I feared for my life when I was around him before, but not now. I'm confident he isn't planning on hurting me anymore. We've got our own connection now, something akin to a friendship developing between us.
"You should be," Bruno tells me. "It would be wiser."
"I know you aren't going to kill me."
"How can you be so sure?"
I size him up, wondering how honest I can be. Should I go for the jugular and strike him where it really fucking hurts, or should I pretend I don't notice anything like the rest of his family? "I know you're dying," I finally say, cutting straight through the bullshit.
Bruno cocks his head at me, asking, "How can you be so sure?"
"You're getting thinner by the day. You're coughing up blood. And you've given up on trying to fix it," I count off on my fingers. "Everyone else who doesn't see it is a fool."
"You're smarter than most of my sons, it seems. I thought one of them would have said something sooner," Bruno says with a hint of bitterness to his voice. "I guess they're all too fucking busy to worry about their father. I shouldn't be angry about it… it is the way of life."
"It doesn't mean they don't care about you," I offer.
He merely scoffs at the sound of my words. "You can't tell anyone," he states firmly.
"I won't."
"Do you want to know why I hated your parents, Marzia?"
I find myself nodding. "I would like to find out."
Bruno sighs, leaning back in his chair. "You know I was married and that I had a son."
"Santino." I nod.
"His mother died in childbirth…or so we told the boys. She didn't. She was—killed," Bruno admits heavily. "Assassinated."
"Why?"
"Because of a grudge from another mafia famiglia," Bruno goes on. "I sought help from your parents when she was still pregnant, but they declined to help me by agreeing to marry you to Adrian. It would've given me a powerful ally, one my enemies wouldn't have gone after. But your parents didn't want that. They had me thrown out and humiliated me."
My cheeks burn with shame at the sound of my own parents' behavior.
"After Santino was born," Bruno continues. "My wife was shot and killed by the enemy famiglia. It is their fault my wife, the love of my life, is gone."
"You can't blame my parents for that."
"I can, and will continue to do so," Bruno hisses. "Be glad I don't fucking hate you. Just because you're Adrian's bambina doesn't give you the right to speak to me like that."
I stare at him fearlessly. "You're an old, sick man. And like it or not, I'm going to be Adrian's wife and carry on your name with the sons I give Adrian."
"You are right," he says thoughtfully. "I underestimated the enemy. Marzia, you have my respect."
I stand from my seat, smiling as I approach his desk. "By the way, here's the proposal I came up with for the distillery."
"What?" Bruno stares at the papers.
"You told me to put together a business plan." I shrug. "Here's the business model I came up with." I sit in front of him and begin to explain the plan, showing him all the bullet points of the visual map I've drawn.
Once I'm done, Bruno sits back and stares at me in wonder. "You've thought of everything."
"I had to," I mutter. "I didn't know the estate was in such shambles. I really would've thought papa took better care of our legacy."
"Your father was a reckless man, Marzia," Bruno mutters.
I find myself agreeing with him. "But it's not too late to save the company. If you follow this plan, you should be able to turn a profit in the first six months again."
"What are you hoping to get out of this?" Bruno asks skeptically.
"Excuse me?"
"Well, you're not just doing this because you love tradition so much."
I laugh. "How could you possibly know that about me?"
"Come on, Marzia. Don't tell me you still care about your father after finding out everything I told you."
"No matter what he did to you, he is still my father," I say. "I thought you understood family loyalty. I thought that's what all of this was about."
"All of what?"
"This. Adrian. Nicoletta. Their marriage." I pierce him with my gaze. "Didn't you demand he marry her to prove his loyalty to the Bernardi family?"
Bruno laughs out loud. "The exact opposite, my dear."
I'm intrigued, but I don't get to question him any further.
Eleanora comes to collect me.
I silently follow her down the hallway and back to my bedroom. There, my painting supplies are placed on the coffee table in the salon.
